Mr. Speaker, yesterday it was revealed that up to 60 foreign workers were doing tunnelling work on the new rapid transit line in Vancouver. Most of these workers earn as little as $5 per hour and work nine to ten hours a day, six days a week. The employer brings in these workers from Costa Rica, Colombia and Peru and pays them four to five times less than their Canadian counterparts.
This clearly violates foreign worker criteria that wages and working conditions must be comparable to those of Canadian workers.
Does the minister believe that this exploitation should be tolerated in Canada and, if not, what will he do to stop it?